State must halt severance deal

From one of New Jersey's tiniest towns comes one of its worst examples of how irresponsible our state has been in allowing an inordinate amount of government to exist, and an inordinate level of costly benefits to be handed out to those workers lucky enough to find their way into a plum job.

In blink-and-you'll-miss-it Loch Arbour - population 194 - village clerk Lorraine Carafa may retire with a $694,000 severance package if the municipality merges with neighboring Allenhurst - population 496.

If she does hang it up, she'll certainly be doing it in style, thanks to a sweetheart deal the Loch Arbour Board of Trustees struck with her last year before being replaced by a Board of Commissioners.

Carafa would be entitled to 46 weeks of severance pay, worth $89,000; 150 days of unused vacation and sick days, good for $66,000; and lifetime health benefits for herself and her spouse to the tune of $539,000, according to a letter sent by the village to residents. Mind you, this would come on top of the state pension she will receive.

There are some obvious problems highlighted by this case, which qualifies as an outright fiscal emergency in a village where the entire annual budget is about $1.2 million, and where a merger is being explored because Loch Arbour is under strain from the high cost of sending its handful of students to another town's schools.

We've been here before: Former Keansburg schools Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski was awarded a severance package worth $556,290 until the state stepped in to block it. It is time to do the same thing again.

Why hasn't there long been a statewide cap or ban in place on public employees banking sick time over many years without limit so that local governments and school districts don't get financially crushed by a few retirements or, in this case, just one retirement? The answer is simple - because neither elected officials nor public workers years ago had any foresight about this or any regard for how it affects taxpayers. There's a reason why we pay the highest property taxes in the nation here, and this is a big part of it.

Why more than a half-million dollars worth of health insurance for life for both retiree and spouse? Again, it seemed like a great idea years ago. Now it's becoming ever more of a burden on taxpayers and far out of line from the private sector.

Why is there even a separate government for a village that, in square feet, is less than the leasable space at a mall? Again, we go back to New Jersey foolishly having 566 municipalities, 600-plus school districts, hundreds of independent authorities, fire districts, etc. It's too much. It's why there's a clerk in a village of 194 people to begin with. There shouldn't be.

The state must do all it can to prevent this latest obscene severance payout to the retiring Loch Arbor clerk.

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State must halt severance deal

From one of New Jersey's tiniest towns comes one of its worst examples of how irresponsible our state has been in allowing an inordinate amount of government to exist, and an inordinate level of

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